Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda onto a sheet of wax paper, then sift again into a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork until a dough just forms (dough will be moist).

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead gently 6 times. Pat out dough on a floured surface with floured hands, reflouring surface if necessary, into an 8- by 5 1/2-inch rectangle. Trim all 4 sides with a knife, dusting knife edge with flour before each cut. Cut rectangle in half lengthwise, then into thirds crosswise to form 6 (2 1/2-inch) squares, flouring knife between cuts. Transfer biscuits with a metal spatula to an ungreased baking sheet, arranging them 2 inches apart, and brush tops with milk or cream. Bake until pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature.

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Reviews

Just made these for strawberry shortcake. I don't roll it out, just divide the dough into five rough balls on the baking sheet and brush with milk (one for each family member). They might be a bit dessert-like to use for a savoury dish, but they make a great dessert.

Just made a double recipe of these biscuits for strawberry shortcake. Heavenly. I shrugged off the complements by saying it's all about the fabulous strawberries from the farmers' market, and everyone said nope, it's the biscuits. So good, so fast, so wonderful.

These were easy and delicious--rich and delicate biscuits that took maybe 25 minutes from start to finish. I cut the sugar to 1/2 Tbsp. to keep them savory since I was serving them with chicken. Will definitely file this recipe away for the next time I have extra buttermilk!

I am not a very good baker. But I wanted to try these biscuits. I needed 12, so I doubled the recipe. Reduced the sugar to 1 tablespoon as other reviewers recommended. They turned out very very nice. My guests loved them! So it's a keeper. Especially for people who are not very good Baker's-this worked really well.

I liked these biscuits, but they weren't exactly what I had in mind. I was looking for a flaky, buttermilk biscuit - these are more crumpet-like. That being said, they were very good (a huge hit with the kiddos) and made a lovely biscuit base for strawberry shortcake because of their more cakey consistency. I used a food-processor for the dry ingredients (added 1/2 more flour and 1/2 Tbs. less sugar per other reviewers suggestions), then mixed in the buttermilk by hand. The dough was still VERY wet. Instead of over-working the dough, I used a 1/4 cup measure and made drop biscuits. Easy and lovely. I'll make them again, but I would never pair these with anything savory.

Loved these biscuits. I used an additional tablespoon of butter (5 v. 4) and White Lily (soft winter wheat) flour. I weigh my flour because it works best for me. I used a food processor. I cut butter into cubes and dusted with flour and put in freezer. (A trick that I've been deploying of late successfully), in the freezer. (Works equally well for pie crust). Mixed dry in food processor, cut in butter, and then pulsed in buttermilk. Very sticky. Well-floured board means just that in this recipe. In the future, I would simply add a little more flour while in the processor, and then put on a floured surface to pat into a log and slice with a sharp knife. (which is how I processed it prior to putting it on baking sheet.
I also find that there is no substitute for the consistency of real buttermilk. The acidity is achieved certainly with the addition of vinegar/lemon to milk. But thick buttermilk really is a marvel.

YUM! Very easy. As one reviewer did below, I mixed the dry ingredients and butter in a food processor then put in a b0wl to add the buttermilk. I cut down the sugar to a "light" 1 tbsp and only kneaded about 3 times. I will definitely make these again.

Great recipe! Easy, quick, tasty. I backed off on the sugar by 1/2 tbsp, as I didn't want the biscuits too sweet. Also, I didn't have any buttermilk, and only had skim milk, to which I added about 1 1/2 tbsp of vinegar. The dough was not too workable, so I added a little bit of flour, and spooned the dough onto a cookie sheet. They turned out great!

Needed nearly twice the amount of flour than recipe called for to even get it to become a workable dough. That said it was a piece of cake to make, and would be excellent as a strawberry shortcake biscuit. I only used 1 tbsp sugar since I was making these for biscuits and gravy, and it was still pretty sweet. Kill the sugar if you're looking for a savory biscuit. I'll make again but start with 2 cups flour and adjust sugar down.

I like to prep the dry ingredients and butter quickly in my food processor, quick bursts--no warm fingers to melt the butter. Then I put the mixture in a bowl and add the buttermilk. I only knead the mixture slightly, maybe 3 times and pat it out to the thickness I want. The less you mess with the dough, the lighter the biscuits.

Made these for Thanksgiving - and so happy - Many failed attempts using other recipes - This is light - easy and foolproof! Added some extra buttermilk - secret is that the dough must be pretty wet - I used my hands to mix and cut them with a sharp round edge - I want to make these for breakfast too!

Sooo good!!! If you want to avoid the messy roll out and cut, then consider, quickly rolling into balls and gently pressing down, I did and they were delicious! (Quickly so the butter doesn't melt, the biscuit will be tough if not done quickly.) They aren't quite as perfectly shaped but still 'look' like biscuits.

These biscuits are wonderful and quick to make, if slightly sweet. I like to make them with bacon grease instead of butter (add a bit more flour if you do this), and the sweet-and-salty flavor is to die for! :)

I love these. They are sweet, but with just a hint of sweetness, nothing crazy. Makes them so wonderful for breakfast with jam or honey. I used the food processor, stopped just before dough was together and dumped out to knead just a few times to bring everything together - dough is sticky. I patted the dough into a rough rectangle and cut biscuits as directed, sort of patting out the edges to be less squareish - and am super happy with results. A bit of a crisp golden outside, tender wonderfulness inside. Also love that recipe makes just 6, perfect for my purposes without lots of left overs. Enjoy!

I almost never
review recipes on
here (oops) but I am
making an exception
to waddle to my
computer and write
this one here. These
biscuits are
AMAZING. A couple of
notes - firstly,
when measuring 'well
shaken' buttermilk
keep in mind that
3/4 cup is going to
be about 1/3 full of
bubbles...just add
bmilk until th dough
is sticky (past the
point you'd usually
want a dough to be).
Second - I had this
tonight with some
blackberries
simmered in red wine
and buttermilk ice
cream (recipe also
courtesy epicurious)
and even though it
hurts to move, every
bite was worth it.

I just made this recipe for the first time and it's delicious! I cheated and used a food processor for the mixing, just a few pulses to combine the dry ingredients and butter into a meal, then several pulses until the buttermilk was integrated and the mixture took on a doughiness. Then I kneaded briefly by hand.